join or die [paisley]

Everything had been a shitshow lately. Kole had openly tried to take over Earalas by threatening Hadley's parents, and then had them killed when he refused to hand over his star piece. One would think that such an act would be enough to rouse the other overloridians into action, but nooo. Arizona hadn't replied to a single one of Hadley's messages, and Liam had fucking flatout refused when Remy and Alicia had appealed to him. At least he had Tamar and the power of Dian on his side, but he was worried that if when the attack finally came, the two of them might not be enough.

They had two more chances to gain allies: Aspen and Paisley. Tamar was currently en route to Ughdarras, and Hadley himself had traveled to Nadar to talk to Paisley in clio. Nadar wasn't much of a military force, but they were a major food producer. One of two in Amelia, along with Earalas. At the very least, if she would agree to cut off trade with Deilig and Solas, it could be a pretty strong blow against them.

He was currently heading through Paisley's insanely large garden, holding the arm of one of three bodyguards he had hired to travel with him. Two from Earalas, one from Dian, each hopefully capable of fending off any attacks from crazy Deilig thugs. He planned to have them wait outside while he met with Paisley.

"Finally, we're here," one of them, Tom or something, announced as they lead Hadley up to the front entrance of Paisley's estate. They knocked and waited.

Paisley was waiting nervously for Hadley to arrive in Nadar. He'd sent a letter saying that he urgently needed to talk to her about the growing situation with Deilig, and she'd been anxious ever since.

I don't know why you're so worried, Chevron said, his tail twitching as he watched Paisley pace around. What do you think he's going to do, bite you?

Paisley didn't know. While she didn't think Hadley would actually bite her, she knew he wasn't afraid to get dirty, either. And Paisley didn't think what she had to say about his request was going to fall very favorably with him.

Tahnee had stopped by the other day with business from Cuir, and had dished to Paisley everything that had gone on between Hadley's advisers and Liam. Paisley couldn't say she disagreed with Liam's decision. Of course she wanted to help Earalas and Dian, and she would give them supplies or whatever them needed, if they asked. But she wasn't sure she wanted to formally ally with anyone when Nadar was not part of the "target zone".

She was walking past her desk for the tenth time when a knock came at the door.

"Paisley, miss? Ov. Sterling is here for your meeting." Penelope, one of the many employees of the estate said from behind the door.

Paisley smoothed her pants down and walked over to open it, flashing a smile toward Hadley...and his three large body guards.

"Uh, hi, Hadley...and friends!" she said with a tiny laugh. "I'm glad you, uh, all could make it. Come on in."

"Thanks for having us, Paisley," Hadley said with a big, polite, charming smile on his face. Might as well start things out friendly, though he had a pretty strong hunch this meeting would be turning nasty pretty quickly. He stepped inside and let go of Tom's arm. "I was actually kinda thinking this could be more of a private meeting, if there's somewhere these guys could wait for a while."

He held his hand out in Paisley's direction, clearly wanting to take her arm instead so that she could show him to her office or wherever she wanted to do this.

Paisley had Penelope show the men to a sitting room and asked her to get them something to munch on while they waited. Then she shut the door and led Hadley over to a chair that faced her desk. She walked around and sat at the one behind it, and sighed.

"I hope your trip out here went well," she said awkwardly, unsure of how to start the conversation.

Hadley sat and listened to Paisley sigh and attempt some small talk. "Yeah, it was fine. Anyways," he said, wanting to get the ball rolling. "So, you know why I'm here, for the most part. Kole's started openly threatening Earalas, and blatantly tried to steal my star piece in order to take over. I'm of the very reasonable opinion that he shouldn't be allowed to keep doing these things unchecked. And we all know he's not gonna stop on his own.

"An alliance between Earalas and Nadar would create a huge advantage over Deilig, assuming things keep escalating, which I'm sure they will," he went on. "You and I have resources Deilig can't do without forever."

He didn't have to be able to see her face, he could practically sense her discomfort from where he sat. Just make this easier for both of us and agree, Paisley.

Paisley sat, listening to Hadley go on about the situation, and then he finally came to the part where she would come in, and she inwardly cringed a little bit. He was very obviously talking about food, as Nadar and Earalas were the two biggest producers in Amelia. And, indeed, Deilig was importing a lot of food lately. Paisley could only imagine this was because Hadley had already cut Kole off.

He wanted to starve them out.

She'd been expecting him to want her army, or to want a confirmation that she would only fight on the side of Earalas and Dian. But to starve an entire country? Because of one evil man? Sure, Deilig had to produce some food on its own, and according to Tahnee, Kole was already allying with Reid Lessing, which meant they were at least trading amongst each other, but Paisley knew there wouldn't be enough to go around.

"What about all the innocent clio that just had the misfortune to live in Deilig? Solas? What about the children?"

I don't know, what about all the innocent clio and children who live in Earalas? Hadley wanted to ask snarkily, but refrained. Being rude wouldn't help convince Paisley, and he was hoping he could convince her without having to use his trump card.

"I'm not saying we should let clio starve," Hadley said carefully. "Deilig and Solas can't grow as much food as us, but it's not like they're completely barren deserts or anything. It'll just...stretch them a little thin. Thin enough that it might be difficult to maintain an army."

Honestly, Hadley knew that this wouldn't be good for the clio of Deilig and Solas. But the alternative--letting Kole continue to attempt his takeover of Amelia--would be worse for everyone in the world. It was just a necessary evil.

Paisley, who liked to believe the best in clio, hoped that that would be what would happen. But something told her the army would be fed just fine. It would be the civilians and children, the clio that held no use to Kole, that would suffer.

"I don't know if I can knowingly cut off the food supply of two countries, Hadley," Paisley said honestly. "I understand why you're asking, but there are kids there. And I don't think Kole cares if they get fed or not." She took a breath, hating disagreeing with Hadley. She didn't like saying no--and this was a big no that would mean a lot to him. She needed to soften the blow.

"If it comes to armies, you have my full support. If they make good on their threat and invade, or even attempt to invade, I can lend you as many soldiers as you need. But I can't, I just can't, cut off food to innocent clio. I can't do it."